Minneapolis councilors vote to not rebuild 3rd Precinct at former site

By KSTP

Future of MPD 3rd Precinct building

The Minneapolis City Council met Thursday morning to discuss options for where to put the city’s 3rd Police Precinct. The building was burned during the 2020 riots following the murder of George Floyd, and now, multiple city councilors are saying rebuilding at the old site isn’t a good option.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, a new option was announced Monday – and there has already been a lot of discussion regarding the option this week.

A motion by councilor Jason Chavez was made during Thursday’s meeting to eliminate the old location as an option, while a handful of councilors have tweeted out their support for this. That motion passed by a vote of 12-1, meaning the old 3rd Precinct location wont’ have any further police presence at the site.

NEW: Minneapolis City Council votes 12-1 to eliminate the old third precinct building as an option for further police presence as the discussion for a new location continues @KSTP pic.twitter.com/3ER9QiQZEn
— Kelsey Christensen (@KelseyReports) July 20, 2023

That currently leaves two other options – one of those is to build on an empty lot just blocks down the street on Minnehaha Avenue. The second option would combine the 3rd Precinct with the new 1st Precinct location at the old Century Plaza building by the convention center.

On Tuesday, councilors approved a request for Mayor Jacob Frey’s office to spend a few more months looking at a new location for the 3rd precinct. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also learned that last year, the 3rd Precinct handled about a fourth of the call load in the city.

Additional talks will now begin about what to do with the empty building.